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The 'Marsgracht' has been detained twice this year by Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) Port Alma for the improper stowage of dangerous goods, first on Feb 6, 2024, and then on Nov 14 for contravening the IMO’s International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code. It was the fourth detention of Spliethoff vessel since June 2022 for failure to comply with the IMDG code in the stowage of dangerous cargoes, which demonstrate an inability to ensure safe operational practices across the fleet, the AMSA said. Spliethoff has a 12.6% average of detentions over the last two years, well above the global average with multiple ships detained. Noting the seriousness and nature of these breaches, and the apparent lack of effective processes to rectify failings, it was regarded as appropriate that the 'Marsgracht' may not enter or use an Australian port for a period of 180 days.

The HMS 'Albion' and HMS 'Bulwark' will be decommisioned,, alongside the HMS 'Northumberland', as well as several other capabilities, the Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed in Parliament on Nov 20, 2024, as part of a broader push to modernise the UK Armed Forces. The decision comes as part of a series of measures to retire what the Government called outdated military equipment, saving £150 million over the next two years and up to £500 million over five years. The HMS 'Albion' and HMS 'Bulwark' had already been in extended readiness under previous governments, incurring significant maintenance costs without being actively deployed. Both ships were effectively retired by previous ministers but superficially kept on the books at a cost of £9 million a year. The HMS 'Northumberland' has been deemed uneconomical to repair due to structural damage. The decommissioning decisions were made in close consultation with service chiefs and align with the ongoing Strategic Defence Review (SDR).

The fire at the Port of Iskenderun has finally been extinguished, Turkey's ministry of defense announced on Feb 7. It was the second time that the ministry has reported that the fire has been put out; after the previous announcement, the blaze resumed at scale, and firefighters managed to contain it later that night. Iskenderun's container terminal is still closed due to the severe structural damage, which forced the facility to halt all operations. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck southern Turkey on Feb 6 had a significant impact on the port, toppling stacks of containers and cracking pavement. The physical damage is severe enough that container lines were diverting vessels to other ports, like nearby Mersin. The quake also sparked a fire in the center of the terminal's container storage area. Turkey's coast guard deployed a vessel to apply water from the quayside, and the Turkish air force and army sent aircraft to drop fire retardant on the blaze. The fire spread despite these efforts, but was finally contained in the night of Feb 7. Report with video: https://maritime-executive.com/article/fire-at-port-of-iskenderun-extinguished-after-two-days

On Dec 1, 2022, at about 3 p.m. the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) was informed that 15 empty containers at Keppel Terminal had fallen from the wharf into the water as a result of strong winds during a squall. There were no reported injuries and no immediate impact to port operations. The MPA deployed two patrol crafts to monitor and cordon off the affected area to facilitate recovery work by PSA Corporation Ltd. MPA’s Port Operations Control Centre has restricted all vessel movements in the vicinity of Keppel Terminal until the containers were recovered.

The 'Glen Sannox' has been handed over by the Ferguson shipyard to the Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd. on the night of Nov 20, exactly seven years after it was launched by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, being the first new large vessel for the west coast ferry fleet in nearly a decade. The ferry operator CalMac will now conduct several weeks of crew familiarisation trials before the ship carries its first passengers in Jan 2025. The 'Glen Sannox' was originally due for delivery in 2018 but has faced major challenges in design and construction, sparking the longest-running political controversy of the devolution era. Costs have risen from an initial contract price of £97m to more than £400m, including £45m of government loans that were never fully recovered. Report with photos: https://www.inverclydenow.com/port-yard-hand-over-glen-sannox-at-last/

The HMS 'Albion' and HMS 'Bulwark' will be decommisioned,, alongside the HMS 'Northumberland', as well as several other capabilities, the Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed in Parliament on Nov 20, 2024, as part of a broader push to modernise the UK Armed Forces. The decision comes as part of a series of measures to retire what the Government called outdated military equipment, saving £150 million over the next two years and up to £500 million over five years. The HMS 'Albion' and HMS 'Bulwark' had already been in extended readiness under previous governments, incurring significant maintenance costs without being actively deployed. Both ships were effectively retired by previous ministers but superficially kept on the books at a cost of £9 million a year. The HMS 'Northumberland' has been deemed uneconomical to repair due to structural damage. The decommissioning decisions were made in close consultation with service chiefs and align with the ongoing Strategic Defence Review (SDR).

Thick black smoke was rising from burning containers at Iskenderun Port on Feb 6, 2023. The fire was caused by containers that toppled over during the powerful earthquake that struck southeast Turkey. ATurkish Coast Guard vessel was assisting efforts to extinguish the blaze.

Russia's Ministry of Transport has set up a ferry service across the Kerch Strait to take over vehicle traffic, offsetting some of the impact of the damage to the Kerch Strait Bridge after a truck was blown up on the westbound road deck of the Kerch Strait Bridge on Oct 7 at about 6 a.m. Two spans of the westbound deck collapsed into the water, but the adjacent eastbound deck remained in place. The blast's timing coincided with the passage of a fuel train on the adjacent rail deck, and it ignited seven fuel tank cars, which burned for hours after the explosion. A Russian salvage diving team has arrived on the site and is completing an underwater survey of the damage, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said Sunday. An above-water inspection process is already under way. Traffic had partially resumed on the bridge by late Saturday, though restricted by the extent of the damage. Russia's Ministry of Transport said that it also resumed suburban commuter rail service over the rail track, though not heavy freight trains. Two ferries are already in operation to provide a bypass route, and eight separate parking lots have been set up for temporary storage for cars and trucks waiting to make the crossing. Two more ferries will join the effort on Monday, the Yeysh and Mriya.

The Spanish government confirmed on Nov 20 that it will not allow the 'Maersk Denver' and another ship to dock in Spanish ports. The Danish company Maersk had announced that its container ship was prevented from entering the port of Algeciras. The company claimed that the cargo did not contain weapons or military ammunition. The company said in an official statement: “The goods to be transported through the port do not contain weapons or military ammunition.” This decision comes in the context of the Spanish government's hard-line approach to dealing with weapons destined for Israel since the recognition of the State of Palestine last May. Spain has halted arms sales to Israel and prevented ships carrying military cargo from docking in its ports. According to Maersk, the cargo was not physically inspected and the ship's crew was forced to divert to the port of Tangier. Maersk expressed its surprise at the decision, stating that it had contacted the Spanish authorities to understand the reasons for denying entry to the ship: “We understand that Spain has changed its criteria on a discretionary basis, and now refuses to receive ships to or from Israel if they are carrying any military-related cargo, even if the cargo is legal.”

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has admitted that 300 tonnes of the 20,000 tonne load of the Ruby' had become contaminated by seawater, leading to it being dumped out to sea. During the transhipment of the cargo at Great Yarmouth, the seawater and a small amount of hydrocarbons were found to have entered the forward-most hold of the vessel, which was likely to have resulted from the grounding incident. Before the arrival in Great Yarmouth on Oct 28, the ship had been anchored about 11 miles off the coast of Margate in Kent while awaiting repairs to her hull and propeller, which were damaged in bad weather. All non-essential port operations were halted to ensure the vessel complied with strict regulations. The MCA insisted that the contaminated ammonium nitrate was not a risk to the people of Norfolk. The port had previously announced in a statement that it adhered to all of the UK's safety regulations as well as international maritime standards: "The MCA, Norfolk Resilience Forum, HSE and the Port worked together to mitigate any risk to local residents, including providing support and guidance on ammonium nitrate, halting all non-essential port operations and regular site checks to ensure compliance. The MCA and its partners have worked together to continually monitor the situation with the MV Ruby, including working to understand changing risks." Report with photos: https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/24737127.mv-ruby-cargo-vessel-dumped-300-tonnes-ammonium-nitrate/

The Port of Kiel expects another good season in 2023, resulting in 218 cruise calls, said its MD Dirk Claus in the morning of Jan 17, 2023, as part of a presentation reflecting on last year's results. It follows 2022's record-breaking 244 calls, which saw the port handle over 2.24m passengers, 836,000 of those from cruise vessels. The number of calls in 2019 was 37% less by comparison, numbering 178, and passenger volumes 4.1% lower. 2020 had been forecast to become a record season for Kiel, with 200 calls and 880,000 passengers, but aspirations were dashed owing to the pandemic. This year, a number of larger vessels are scheduled to arrive at Kiel on multiple occasions making the gross tonnage of arriving ships similar to 2022. For 2023, the choice of routes and destinations approached from Kiel will be slightly broader. Moving into the future, Claus expects Kiel to settle on between 200 and 250 cruise calls annually. According to the port, last year’s promising results were the result of ‘intense planning’ with international cruise operators. While 11 calls were cancelled owing to the conflict in Ukraine and the resulting loss of St Petersburg from itineraries, nine were newly added as a result of rerouting by operators. Looking ahead, there will be a strong focus on greener shipping with Claus hoping that between 60 and 100 calls can be supplied with green shore power this year. He stated that Kiel will continue to look at strengthening shore power in line with its corporate sustainability strategy to lower carbon emissions. Work on the new Ostuferhafen shore power plant is expected to conclude towards the end of this year, resulting in Kiel being able to offer shoreside connectivity at all its ferry and cruise terminals from 2024. Along with this €17m investment, a further €2m will be invested to install solar arrays. The systems, which will be fitted on roofs at Kiel Port, are intended to cover up to 30% of the port's electricity requirements in the long term.  Kiel’s first call is expected to arrive April 7 with the river vessel 'Frederic Chopin'. The first cruise ship of the season, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ 'Balmoral', will arrive a week later.  The largest ships to call will be 'MSC Euribia' and 'AIDAnova'. At the other end of the scale, the 'Ocean Majesty' will visit Kiel on six occasions while chartered to Hansa Touristik. The vessel, which celebrates its 57th anniversary this year, is popular with the German source market. One of its calls is scheduled to occur on June 18 during the Kieler Woche sailing festival which will run from June 17-25. Traditionally, this marks the peak of the cruise season with this year no exception: 22 calls are expected by Kiel at the same time as the event takes place. While the highest number of calls is expected between mid-April and the end of September as usual, some ships will continue to call later in the year. 'AIDAnova'’s last departure is scheduled for November 4 whilst December 20 will see Phoenix Reisen's 'Amera' arrive at Kiel as part of a pre-Christmas itinerary. The season will draw to a close a few days later with the 'Spirit of Discovery' on December 29. Costa-, AIDA-, MSC- and TUI Cruises will again be the port's largest cruise customers. The majority of calls account for turnarounds serving the German-speaking source markets, but a number of transit calls will also take place, P&O Cruises’ Britannia, Swiss Ruby, Holland America Line’s 'Nieuw Statendam' and Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 'Seven Seas Splendor' among them. As in previous years, the Ostuferhafen outside the city centre will be heavily utilised by MSC Cruises and most other cruise ships will arrive at the Ostseekai. 

The Crimean Bridge across Kerch Strait suffered an explosion and fire in the morning of Oct 8, 2022. Two spans of the motorway bridge collapsed and fell into the water, the railway bridge above the motorway witha cargo train including railway car tanks with fuel, was on fire. All bridge traffic was suspended. The Crimean Bridge was more than a Bridge, both for Russia and Ukraine. For Russia it was a symbol of the Russian “victory” and historical justice. For the Ukraine, it was a symbol of the Russian aggression and Crimea occupation. The navigation span of the Bridge is yet undamaged, and therefore, the Kerch Strait Channel remained navigable. The Kerch Strait Transit is from now on, however, a risky undertaking, so all ship owners are advised to calculate risks and probably, change their ships voyages, avoiding Azov sea calls.